Saturday, January 24, 2009

If others, whom you had trusted, enslave your people and ship them overseas, then would you retaliate? It would be abnormal human nature not to.

Louis XIV had a colony in Canada (that is, what was to become Canada). He liked slaves (they all did) and he felt that the Iroquois would be good slaves – galley slaves. The governor of Canada then abducted even friendly Iroquois and carted them off to the Sun King (or was it Sun God? Never mind.)

In what is supposed to be the bloodiest episode in the history of Canada, the Iroquois came down on a village called Lachine, a few miles above Montreal. On the night of August 4 1689, one thousand four hundred Iroquois descended on the village and engaged in an orgy of massacre.

A few weeks later, Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, arrived to take charge. According to an historian, " He belonged to that school of military action which knows no scruple in its methods...."

Now, that's terrorism for you. You enslave a people, then expect them to continue to be friends, and when they retaliate, you use the vilest methods possible. The Canadians had it coming, as any disinterested reader must acknowledge. The villagers of Lachine paid for the foreign policy of their kings. All so familiar.

About Me

Iftekhar Sayeed was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where he currently resides. He teaches English as well as economics. He is a language consultant to several organizations.
His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in DANFORTH REVIEW, POSTCOLONIAL TEXT and DALHOUSIE REVIEW from Canada; ROGUESCHOLARS.COM, WRITETHIS.COM, PERIGEE, OPEDNEWS.COM, DREAMAGIC.COM, POET'S HAVEN, AXIS OF LOGIC, THE SQUARE TABLE, LITVISION, SOUTHERN CROSS REVIEW, RITRO.COM, PEMMICAN, GOWANUS, UNLIKELY STORIES (February, April, July 2006, Feb 2007), FREEZERBOX, MOBIUS, CATALYZER, ALTAR MAGAZINE, ONLINE JOURNAL (2005, 2006, 2007), LEFT CURVE (2004, 2005) and THE WHIRLIGIG in the United States; in Britain: ENTER TEXT, PENNINE INK, CURRENT ACCOUNTS, MOUSEION, ERBACCE, THE JOURNAL, POETRY MONTHLY, ENVOI, ORBIS, ACUMEN and PANURGE; and in ASIAWEEK in Hong Kong; CHANDRABHAGA and the JOURNAL OF INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH in India; and HIMAL in Nepal.
He is also a freelance journalist. He and his wife love to tour Bangladesh.
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